The History of Richard Raynal, Solitary

by Robert Hugh Benson

  How Master Richard took his meat: and of Master Lieutenant's whippingof him

  _Domine, ante te omne desiderium meum; et gemitus meus a te non estabsconditus._

  Lord, all my desire is before Thee: and my groaning is not hidden fromThee.--_Ps. xxxvii. 10._

  IX

  It was a little cell in which Master Richard found himself thatafternoon, after he had passed through the guardroom and heard the angerand laughter of the men-at-arms, and sustained their blows, and when hehad looked about it, at the little narrow window high up upon the wall,and the water that dripped here and there from the stones, and thestrong door shut upon him, the first thing that he did was to go downupon his knees in the puddle, and thank God for solitude.

  (There be two kinds of men in the world, those that love solitude, andthose that hate it; for there be two kinds of souls, the full and theempty. Those that be full have enough to occupy them with, and thosethat be empty are for ever seeking somewhat wherewith to occupy them.)

  When he had done that he looked round again upon the walls and theceiling and the floor, and sitting down upon the wood that was to be hispillow, first girding up his kirtle that it might not be fouled, hesought to unite himself with all that he saw, that it might be hisfriend and not his foe. So he told me when I asked him, but I do notknow if I understood him aright.

  There he sat then a great while, communing with God, and the saints,with his cell and with his soul, and after a little time his interiorquiet was again restored. Then, as he knew he would have no light thatnight, and that the cell would grow dark early, for his window lookedeastwards, and was a very little one, he made haste to say the rest ofhis office from the book that he had with him. But he said it slowly, asthe Carthusians use, sucking the sweetness out of every word, and saying_Jesu_ or _Mary_ at every star [the break in each verse of the psalteris marked with an asterisk], and after a while the sweetnesswas so piercing that he could scarcely refrain from crying out.

  When he had done he looked again at his window, and saw that the stripof sky was becoming green with evening light, and he thought upon hishazels at home.

  Half an hour afterwards a fellow came with his bread and water forsupper, on a wooden plate and in a great jug, set them down and went outwithout speaking.

  * * * * *

  Now I will tell you all that Master Richard did; it was his custom whenhe was at home, and he observed it here too.

  He first poured water upon his hands, saying the psalm _lavabo_, and hedried them upon the sleeves of his habit, for he had no napkin; then heset the second stool before him, and broke the bread upon it into fiveparts, in memory of the five wounds, setting two portions here and twothere, and the fifth in the middle. Then he blessed the food, lookingupon it a great while, and seeing with the eyes of his soul hisSaviour's body stretched upon the rood. Then he began to eat, dippingeach morsel into its proper wound, so that it tasted to him sweet aswine, and last of all he ate that which lay in the middle, thinking onthe heart that was pierced for love of him. Then he drank water, blessedhimself, and gave thanks to God, and last of all poured water once moreupon his hands.

  Master Richard has often told me that there is no such sweet food to befound anywhere--(save only the sacrament of the altar)--as that which isso blessed and so eaten, and indeed I have found it so myself, when Ihave had patience to do so with it. [Sir John makes here a few rathertrite remarks upon holy bread and ashes and upon various methods ofdevotion. His words are quite irrelevant, therefore I omit them. He iscareful, however, to warn his flock that not every form of devotion isequally suitable for every soul.]....

  Now God was preparing three trials for Master Richard, and the firstcame on the following morning very early.

  He had not slept very well; the noise from the guard-room without wastoo great, and when that was quiet there was still the foulness of theplace to keep him awake, for all the floor was strewn with rotten ragsand straw and bones, as it were a kennel. His wounds, besides, had notbeen tended, and he was very sick when he awoke, and for a while scarceknew where he was. I think, perhaps, he had taken the fever then.

  He heard presently steps in the way that led to his cell, and talking,and immediately his door was unlocked and opened. There came in alieutenant of the King's guard, richly dressed, and in half-armour, withhis sword at his side. He had a heavy, hairy face, and as MasterRichard sat up on his blanket he perceived that the man was littlebetter than an animal--gross-bodied and gross-souled. I saw the fellowlater, though I did not speak with him, and I judge as Master Richardjudged. There were four men behind him.

  Master Richard stood up immediately to salute the King's officer, andstood awaiting what should follow, but he swayed with sickness as hestood.

  The officer said a word to his men, and they haled Master Richard forth,pulling him roughly, although he went willingly, as well he was able forhis sickness, through the passage and into the guard-room.

  There was a table set there on a step at the upper end with a chairbehind it; and at the lower end was a couple of men cleaning theirharness beneath a gallery that was held up by posts; the rest were outchanging guard. The door into the court was wide at first, and the sweetair streamed in, refreshing Master Richard like wine after the stenchthat was in his nostrils, and making him think upon the country againand running water and birds, but Master-Lieutenant, when he had takenhis seat, bade them close it, and to set Master Richard before him; allof which they did, and so held him.

  Then he began to speak.

  "Now, sir," he said roughly, "my lord King is at the point of death, andI am here to examine you. What is it that you have done to his grace?"

  Now Master Richard knew that the King could not die, else where were thepassion he was to undergo? And if the officer could lie in this matter,why should he not lie in other matters?

  "Where is your authority," he said "to examine me?"

  "What sir! do you question that? You shall see my authority by and bye."

  "I am willing to answer you as one man to another" said Master Richardsoftly, "but not to plead, until I have seen your authority."

  "Oh! you are willing to answer!" said the officer, smiling like an angrydog. "Very well, then. What have you done to his grace?"

  "I have done nothing," said Master Richard, "save give the message thatour Lord bade me give."

  Master-Lieutenant laughed short and sharp at that, and the two men thatheld Master Richard laughed with him. (The other two men were gone tothe other end of the hall, and Master Richard could not see what theywere doing.)

  "Oho!" said the officer, "that is all that you have done to his grace! Iwould advise you, sir, not to play the fool with me. We know very wellwhat you have done; but we would know from you how and when you did it."

  Master Richard said nothing to that. He felt very light in the head,what with his wounds and the bad air, and the strangeness of theposition. He knew that he was smiling, but he could not prevent it. Hissmiling angered the man.

  "You dare smile at me, sir!" he cried. "I will teach you to smile!"--andhe struck the table with his hand, so that the ink-horn danced upon it.

  "I cannot help smiling," said Master Richard. "I think I am faint, sir."

  One of the men shook him by the arm, and Master Richard's sense cameback a little.

  When he could see again clearly (for just now the face of the officerand the woodwork behind him swam like images seen in water),Master-Lieutenant had a little bottle in his hand. He bade MasterRichard look upon it and asked him what it was.

  "I think it to be my Quinte Essence" said Master Richard.

  "You acknowledge that then!" cries the man. "And what is QuinteEssence?"

  "It is distilled of blood" said Master Richard.

  The officer set the bottle down again upon the table.

  "Now sir" he said, "that is enough to cast you. None who was a Christianman would have such a thing. Say _paternoster_." [This seems to havebeen one of the t
ests in trials for witchcraft.]

  "_Paternoster_ ..." began Master Richard.

  Now, my children, I cannot explain what this signified, but MasterRichard could get no further than that. I know that I myself cannot sayany of the prayers of mass when I am away from the altar, and otherpriests have told me the same of themselves, but it seems to me verystrange that a man should not at any time be able to say _paternoster_.Whether it was that Master Richard was sick, or that the officer's facetroubled him, or whether that God Almighty desired to put him to agrievous test, I know not. But he could not say it. He repeated over andover again, _Paternoster ... Paternoster_, and swayed as he stood.

  The officer's face grew dark and a little afraid; he blessed himselfthree or four times, and breathed through his nostrils heavily. MasterRichard felt himself smiling again, and presently fell to laughing, andas he laughed he perceived that the men who held him drew away from hima little, and blessed themselves too.

  "I cannot help it," sobbed Master Richard presently, "to think that Icannot say _paternoster_!"

  When he had recovered himself somewhat, he perceived that the two othermen were come up behind him.

  Then the officer bade him turn and look, and he did so, with the tearsof that dreadful laughter still upon his cheeks.

  The two men were standing there; one had a great hangman's whip ofleather in his hand, and the other a rope.

  "Now, sir;" said the officer behind him, "here is enough authority foryou and me. Shall I bid them begin, or will you tell us what it is thatyou have done to the King?"

  Now, Master Richard had nothing to tell, as you know; he could not havesaved himself in any case from the torment, but our Lord allowed him tohave this trial, to see how he would bear himself. He might have criedout for mercy, or told a false tale as men so often have done, but hedid neither of these things. The laughter again rose in his throat, buthe drove it down, and after looking upon the men's faces and the arms ofthe man that held the whip, he turned once more to the officer.

  "I have scourged myself too often," he said, "to fear such pain; and ourSaviour bore stripes for me."

  Then (for the men had released him that he might turn round) he undidthe button at his throat, and threw back the kirtle, knotting thesleeves about his waist, and so stood, naked to his middle, awaiting thepunishment.

  He told me afterwards that never had he felt such lightness and freedomas he felt at this time. His body yearned for the pain, as it yearnedfor the sting and thrill of cold water on a cold day. When he wastelling me, I understood better how it was that the holy martyrs were somerry in the midst of their torments. [Sir John relates at considerablelength the Acts of St. Laurence and St. Sebastian.]....

  When the officer had looked on him a moment, he bade him turn round, andso, I suppose, sat staring upon the youth's holy shoulders that werecovered with the old stripes that he had given himself. At last MasterRichard faced about again; and again, as he looked upon the solemn faceof the man, he began to laugh. It seemed a marvellous jest, he thought,that so long a consideration should be given to so small a matter as awhipping. I am glad I was not there to bear that laughter; I think itwould quite have broken my heart.

  * * * * *

  Well, my children, I cannot write what followed, but the end of it wasthat the post to which Master Richard's hands were tied, and the face ofMaster-Lieutenant standing behind it, and the wall behind him with theweapons upon it, grew white and frosted to the young man's eyes, andbegan to toss up and down, and a great roaring sounded in his ears. Hethought, he told me afterwards, that he was on Calvary beneath the rood,and that the rocks were rending about him.

  So he swooned clean away, and was carried back again to his prison.

  * * * * *

  Now I learned afterwards that the officer had no authority such as hepretended, but that he had sworn to his fellows that he could find outthe truth by a pretence of it, thinking Master Richard to be a poorcrazed fool who would cry out and confess at the touch of the whip.

  But Master Richard did not cry out for mercy. And I hold that he passedthis first trial bravely.